During the summer break, football club “Slavia” lost three key players – Peter Olayinka left as a free agent, while Ondrej Lingr and David Jurasik were profitably sold by the club. In their place came Mojmír Hytil, Muhammed Tijani, and Andres Dimitrescu. “Overall, I wouldn’t assess the transfer window as strengthening,” admits Jaroslav Tvrdik, chairman of the board of “Slavia.”
In this article, we aim to analyze Slavia’s activity in the transfer market and assess the team’s readiness for a long and challenging season. Let’s recall that “Slavia” will represent the Czech Republic in the Europa League. Their opponents from Prague will be “Servette,” “Roma,” and “Sheriff.” The first-round match against “Servette” is scheduled for September 21st. The betting company Mosbet is already accepting bets on this confrontation, and “Slavia” is quoted as the favorite.
How the summer transfer window went
Slavia strengthened its squad in two stages. In the first phase, two experienced forwards – Mojmír Hytil and Muhammed Tijani – joined. Their arrival was meant to offset the departure of Peter Olayinka. That is, the club quickly responded to the losses and fortified a position that looked problematic. In this regard, their moves were productive and professional. The club’s management certainly deserved praise.
But as the season progressed, “Slavia” sold Ondrej Lingr to “Feyenoord.” This transfer seemed unplanned. The situation with Ondrej was a complicated story. The club really wanted and tried for a long time to extend his contract. Work began in this direction back in January, but an agreement was never reached. In the end, Ondra left and joined a prominent European club.
Negotiations with him were tough. First, he terminated the contract with his agent. The agreement was such that the club had to wait until he sorted everything out. He claimed he would represent himself and achieve better terms. Then he came to the conclusion that he needed a new agent. All summer, “Slavia” took a wait-and-see approach, waiting for a reasonable offer for Ondra. The club hoped he would remain with the team for the fall season.
The irony is that at the beginning of the week when the transfer took place, the club had agreed with him on signing a new contract. However, “Feyenoord” came along, and he couldn’t refuse. The offer from the Dutch representatives satisfied all parties.
From a business perspective, it’s a good solution to a complicated situation, but from the viewpoint of the team’s quality – it’s a clear step back.
“Slavia” immediately tried to sign another newcomer to replace Lingr
After the unexpected loss of Ondra, the club urgently began working on strengthening and immediately entered into negotiations with Vasil Kushey. However, time was short. Vasil is a star of the Czech league, but the club couldn’t have included him in the Europa League squad. Buying such an expensive player just for the league didn’t seem reasonable to us.
However, it’s not ruled out that negotiations might resume in the future. Meanwhile, they managed to successfully reach an agreement with Andres Dimitrescu. “Slavia” urgently needed a left-back after David Jurasik’s departure.
Such a situation might not please the coach, but the club’s strategy is more important
Certainly, the loss of several key players can adversely affect the team’s performance and disrupt the coaching staff’s plans. However, in the last seven years, the club has made it to the main group of one of the European tournaments seven times. This is a record for Czech football. Only one club in all of Europe, comparable to “Slavia” in terms of conditions and capabilities, has a better record. That’s “Dinamo” Zagreb.
Interestingly, this season, when “Dinamo” failed to make it to the Champions League, it immediately sold four players from the main squad. There was also a coaching change. Ultimately, in a face-off with “Sparta,” “Dinamo” was knocked out of the competition for the Europa League. Perhaps it was because of the player sales. But clubs of this level and ambition don’t have any other choice.
Effective player sales are the primary way to the club’s financial stability, leading to its athletic development. “Slavia” always has two goals: to keep the club financially stable and achieve success on the field. Jandziszek Trpishovski has been successful in this. Just this year, players were sold for a total of 25 million euros, a fantastic figure. The coach understands that the club has to sell, but he will never take it lightly. Here, reason must prevail over emotions.
